Home Automation

• ESP32 / ESP8266

  • Microcontroller with wifi

  • Newer version than ESP8266

  • Can be programmed with Arduino

  • Will be used for a remote control and sensors, may be for a wifi controlled power box.

  • Got them with female headers on top, to stack a custom male header PCB on top.

• Raspberry Pi 4

  • Running the software, going to try and run all of these in Docker containers

    • Home Assistant, Open HAB, MQTT (Mosquito), Storage, Unifi Controller & PiHole

• Shelly 1 / Shelly 2.5

  • In wall relay

  • UL certified

  • Purchased Shelly 1 at IoT Canada

  • Can also purchase Shelly 2.5 at IoT Canada

  • Can connect 2 switches to Shelly 2.5

  • Can use Tasmota on it, but you don't have to anymore

• Etekcity

  • ESWL01, ETL certified

  • ESWL03, 3 way switch, ETL certified

• Wago Terminal Blocks

  • Use the to connect wires together instead of wire nuts

  • 2 POS, 3 POS, 5 POS at Lee's Electronics

• Wiring

  • Gauge and Cores. 14 AWG wires come with different number of cores. The more cores the less Amps they carry, see this chart

  • Wire I bought from Lee's was 14 AWG and 41 cores - 9 Amps

  • Wire I bought from Home Depot 14 AWG and 7 cores - 10 Amps

  • Try and get some write that is good to 15 Amps - 14 AWG and 2 or 3 cores

    • House wiring is 1 core - good to 24 Amps

• Home Assistant

  • Start with this

  • Setup

• Open HAB

  • Set this up later

• Node Red, for automation

  • Use with Home Assistant, not sure if it can be used with OpenHAB

• MQTT

  • Mosquito

  • Used for communication between ESP32 / 8266, Shelly 1 and Home Assistant / OpenHAB

• Docker container, for running software, databases and anything else

• Tasmota

  • Custom firmware for some switches and other devices that use an ESP chip

  • List of switches supported by Tasmota and their certifications

• ESPHome

  • Custom firmware for some switches and other devices that use an ESP chip

  • Haven't looked into this that much

I was going to put a relay or replace the switches with custom switches used ESP32/8266. That won't be up to code, so I had to figure out what I can use off the shelf and still be able to customize it.

Lots of switches out there are not certified to be used in Canada and if they catch on fire, there will be trouble.

All electrical products sold in Canada are required to have one of ETL, cULus or CSA safety certification. This regulation applies only for LINE voltage (AC) devices and its not necessary for low voltage devices.

Note that UL and cUL are not the same. The two marks are not the same and may not be used interchangeably. However, there are many similarities and equipment that has been tested under one standard may well comply with the other.

Shelly 1 and Etekcity are both either UL or ETL certified, there are other switches that are certified but not really available easily. See list above, under software and Tasmota